The 2023 Polar Plunge in support of Special Olympics Athletes in Manitoba is coming up in a week.
    
There will be four plunge locations across the province, including one at Lake Minnewasta in Morden. Inspector Sean Aune with the Morden Police Service says it feels great bringing the event back after in-person events were paused for a couple of years.

"Historically, law enforcement's always kind of been tied with Special Olympics. And ever since I started policing, the Law Enforcement Torch Run, obviously there was runs and police officers I knew from all different services were involved in, so when this came along and this Freezing for a Reason Polar Plunge idea came up, there was quite a few of us that were pretty excited for this," explained Aune. "We thought this is something we could really do out this way for our athletes. And it's just kind of taken off, and now here we are at number 6 now." 

Over the five years, Aune said the Polar Plunge in Morden raised over $100,000 for our athletes. All funds support programing and events for over 1900 athletes across the province.

New this year for the Morden event, instead of participants jumping into a tank filled with ice cold water, they will now get the chance to jump into Lake Minnewasta. 

"This is our 6th event that we're having up here, but I've had the opportunity to go to Churchill for the Ultimate Plunge, so I've had the opportunity to go into the (Hudson) Bay, and it is different, it's fun."

You can register for a Polar Plunge event, go to www.plungeManitoba.com, or the City of Morden's website.

"This is your opportunity to actually plunge into the lake in a safe environment," added Aune. "We'll have some trained professionals there watching out for your well-being, and you'll be getting the opportunity for the bragging rights for jumping in the water."

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